The Cub (Short)Riley Stearns

Riley Stearns' comic short film, The Cub, takes the wives tale of a child being raised by wolves and formalizes it into an exceedingly literal narrative parable.

Set almost entirely in a single location, it opens with a man and a woman making an offer to an off-camera pack of wolves. "We've raised our daughter well up to this point, but we want you to teach her survival, cunning and wolf instincts from here."

The wolves agree to the proposition, taking the 10-year-old girl with them into the wilderness. Several years later, the parents return to collect their daughter, hoping to reintegrate her into society with her fancy new preservationist skill sets.

Inevitably, a short like this plays on irony, or social observations about the nature of human versus animal lifestyle. The Cub doesn't disappoint in this sense, slyly making an observation about human loyalty and the nature of civilization without stepping away from the template of comedy.

It's nothing revolutionary but the brief runtime makes it entirely accessible and worth a watch for what it is.
(Drone)